


Three Sentence Ficlets (Books of the Raksura)

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Genre: 3 Sentence Ficathon, 3 Sentence Fiction, Banter, Duty, F/M, Gen, Homesickness, Matchmaking, Mentors, Multi, Parent-Child Relationship, Politics, Promises, Prompt Fic, Protectiveness, Responsibility, Stargazing, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23315233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: Tiny ficlets written for the Three Sentence Ficathon.1)Jade indulges her protective instincts.2)How high are the stars?3)Azure and Stone talk diplomacy.4)What does it mean to make a home?5)Jade and Consolation discuss responsibility.
Relationships: Azure/Stone (Cloud Roads), Chime/Jade/Moon (Raksura), Consolation & Kethel (Books of the Raksura), Jade & Consolation (Books of the Raksura)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 53





	1. Indulgences

**Author's Note:**

> These ficlets were written in response to various prompts in the February 2020 iteration of the Three Sentence Ficathon, hosted by [rthstewart](https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org). (Yes, I am aware they are not all three sentences long. Let's agree to consider structural restrictions as more... guidelines, really. Okay? Good.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade indulges her protective instincts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 2/2/20 for [sideways](https://sideways.dreamwidth.org), in response to the prompt: [The Books of the Raksura, Jade/Moon/Chime, protective instincts](https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/156816.html?thread=6717328#cmt6717328).

It's selfish, both because they all have endless responsibilities and because neither Moon nor Chime is fully comfortable in the role of pampered, protective favorite, so Jade doesn't indulge terribly often. But now and then she steals an afternoon, trips her consort and their adorably awkward mutual favorite into a pile of cushions carefully arranged over warming stones, and drapes herself on top of them like an armored living blanket until they stop grumbling and settle in to nap while she keeps watch.

They are hers, and anyone who wants to see them -- let alone touch them, or steal them, or hurt them -- will have to go through her first.


	2. Dream Big

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How high are the stars?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 2/11/20 for [chomiji](https://chomiji.dreamwidth.org), in response to the prompt: [Books of the Raksura, Moon+any babies, all the stars in the sky](https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/156816.html?thread=7759248#cmt7759248).

"How high are the stars?" asked Mist as she balanced awkwardly on Moon's shoulders and clung to the bark of the upper branches with the small, needle-sharp claws on her left hand; "Can you carry me there?"

"The stars are higher than any Aeriat can fly," Moon told his Arbora daughter with Bramble (who was twice as curious and prone to escaping the nursery as her two warrior sisters), "but groundlings can't fly at all and they build flying ships to make up for that, so maybe one day someone will build a ship that can reach the stars."

"I'm going to invent one!" Mist said, stretching up onto her tiptoes until Moon wrapped his hand around her ankle just in case; "I'm going to invent one, and then me and Dew and Drop will fly to every star in the whole sky, and the sun, and the moon, and-- and I'll see everything and learn everything and come back to tell Indigo Cloud all about it."

"You will," Moon agreed, "but not right now; tonight you're coming back inside the tree and going to sleep."

Mist sighed; "Fine," she said, and let herself drop into Moon's arms, "but tomorrow morning I'm going to start learning everything about ships."

"You can read anything you find to me," Moon murmured into his daughter's ears as she shifted into her groundling form and her soft, dark hair feathered across his scales like silk on stone; "We'll learn about ships and stars together."


	3. In Love and War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azure and Stone talk diplomacy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 2/14/20 for [sideways](https://sideways.dreamwidth.org), in response to the prompt: [Books of the Raksura, Stone/Azure, "if you start a war here today, you're not sleeping in my bower for the rest of the turn"](https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/157880.html?thread=7779000#cmt7779000).

"If _I_ start a war?" Azure said, spines rising in affront; "Since when am _I_ the undiplomatic one?"

"Oh, we're both undiplomatic, but apparently Cherish is head-over-talons for one of the younger Sky Copper queens and if you break that alliance over border hunting disputes and Zenith's general... everything... then he'll never forgive us," -- Azure snorted, to which Stone shrugged and corrected himself: "Yes, obviously that will only last a turn, but the point is the entire court will be miserable and I'll be staying in the consorts' bowers, not yours."

"Were we ever that young and overly dramatic?" Azure wondered, before snorting again and lowering her spines; "Yes, I know, you think I'm still overly dramatic, but I can at least promise to hold my temper for our son's sake -- possibly for other reasons as well," she added, and nipped the tendons in Stone's neck by way of demonstration.


	4. Homeward Bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What does it mean to make a home?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 2/14/20 for [sideways](https://sideways.dreamwidth.org), in response to the prompt: [Books of the Raksura, Consolation & Kethel, what does it mean to make a home](https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/157880.html?thread=7779256#cmt7779256).

"I think-- I think it's not only people and not only a place. It's having the same people in the same place, taking care of it, so that we know we belong there and it belongs to us, and we can pass it on to our children," Consolation said uncertainly, trying to make sense of the vague half-explanations the consort, her father, had given when she was still too young to fully understand.

"Hard to find a place we can all fit," Kethel said. "Hard to stay for long."

Yes, because nobody wanted Fell around, and if they took a place by force they'd have to spend all their time defending it instead of learning to live by some way other than endless raiding, some way that didn't exhaust all the local resources until they _had_ to move on or die. Consolation snarled at the old, familiar frustrations, until the backwash of her emotions crashed down through the flight's link and she yanked her anger back so she didn't swamp the others.

"We'll find a way," she told her kethel. "A home is worth a fight. It has to be."


	5. Echoes and Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade and Consolation discuss responsibility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 2/19/20 for [sideways](https://sideways.dreamwidth.org), in response to the prompt: [Books of the Raksura, Consolation & Jade, role models](https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/156816.html?thread=7699088#cmt7699088).

"I know they look to me, that I need to have answers -- or at least know how to _find_ answers -- but it's hard when all I have is the old consort's stories to say what's good and what the flight was like under the progenitor to say what's bad," Consolation said, kicking furrows in the rough bark of a mountain thorn's branch with her disemboweling claw.

"You've learned to ask instead of just taking," Jade said, all her spines held carefully neutral; "That's a good first step, and I'm sure your flight can feel that you care and want them to be safe and happy."

"Asking only helps if someone answers," Consolation said, kicking free another slab of bark, and it struck Jade suddenly that this must be an echo of how Pearl had felt when Jade was young and first stretching her wings into her role as daughter-queen, though at least _she'd_ never tried to steal anyone else's consort; she flicked one spine in acknowledgment and said, "You're right; so ask me, and today I'll do what I can."


End file.
